When a sports team is down on its luck, who better than Superman to turn things around?

Brandon Routh, who played the Man of Steel in Bryan Singer’s 2006 film, stars in Crooked Arrows, a family-friendly, inspirational sports movie that aims to do for for lacrosse what The Bad News Bears did for baseball, The Mighty Ducks for hockey and Hoosiers for basketball.

[np-related]

Crooked Arrows opens in the year 1200 on a group of Iroquois men playing lacrosse on a wild swath of land, then jumps to the present day as the tribe’s down-on-its-luck team tries in vain to win a single game.

Routh plays Joe Logan, a mixed-blood Native American casino owner who wants to expand by teaming up with a greedy developer who responds to remarks like, “We had a deal” with, “I changed it,” followed by evil laughter.

The only problem is that Logan needs to convince the tribal council to cede more land, and in order to do that he must first prove himself to his traditionalist father (Gil Birmingham), the tribal chairman. To do this, Logan takes on the beleaguered lacrosse team and tries to turn them around in order to beat the militaristic, uber-preppy defending champs. Lessons will be learned, motivational speeches will be made, lacrosse will be played, and there might just be a ball-stealing Sasquatch living in the woods who’s really good on defence.

While the plot’s machinations may sound familiar, what’s new in Crooked Arrows is the attention paid to the actual sport, not to mention the spiritual connection the Iroquois have to “the creator’s game.” Rather than teach actors to play lacrosse, casting agents sought out actual Native American lacrosse players and taught them to act (sort of). It makes for great training and game sequences, but some not-so-great dialogue delivery, which at times borders on after-school special territory.

Crooked Arrows isn’t without its charms, though, including some humourous scenes involving a misinterpretation of the Iroquois’ traditional language. As a sports movie, it’s a must-see for any lacrosse enthusiasts, and is likely to become a mainstay for every little league coach trying to motivate the team before a big game.